REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 191 



in length, and as these mat and weave together, in the position indicated, they act 

 as powerful conservators of the coast-line, and we cannot help thinking that the 

 Psamma might be cultivated with advantage with the view of keeping together 

 some of our slippery railway embankments. To this it may be objected that it is a 

 maritime species ; but inasmuch as we have grown it on the sandy clays of the Forest 

 Marble, far remote from the seaside, we have no fear of its success on this account.' " 



The following is extracted from " Grasses and Forage Plants " by Charles L. 

 Flint (Boston, 1887), and shows what an important role the plant has played in the 

 history of apart of the American coast : "This grass is very generally diffused on 

 sea coasts over the world and is found inland on the shores of Lake Superior. It 

 has also been cultivated by way of experiment and with success on the sands at 

 Lowell, Massachusetts, and still further up on the banks of the Merrimack Eiver, 

 Though not cultivated for agricultural purposes, it is of great value in protecting 

 sandy beaches. It is preserved in England and Scotland by act of Parliament. It 

 flowers in August. 



"As it is of national importance in protecting our sandy coasts, some account 

 of its culture may not be inappropriate or uninteresting. The town of Provincetown, 

 once called Cape Cod, where the Pilgrims first landed, and its harbour, still called the 

 Harbour of Cape Cod, — one of the best and most important in the United States, suffi- 

 cient in depth for ships of the largest size, and in extent sufficient to anchor three thou- 

 sand vessels at once, — owe their preservation to this grass. To an inhabitant of an 

 inland country it is difficult to conceive the extent and the violence with which the 

 sands at the extremity of Cape Cod are thrown up from the depths of the sea, and 

 left on the beach in thousands of tons, by every driving storm. These sand-hills, 

 when dried by the sun, are hurled by the winds into the harbour and upon the town. 

 A correspondent at Provincetown says : * Beach grass is said to have been culti- 

 vated here as early as 1812. Before that time, when the sand drifted down upon 

 the dwelling-houses, as it did whenever the beach was broken, to save them from 

 burial, the only resort'was to wheeling it off with barrows. Thus tons were removed 

 every year from places that are now (owing to the cultivation of this grass) perfectly 

 secure from the drifting of sand. Indeed, were it not for the window glass in some 

 of the oldest houses in these localities, you would be ready to deny this statement; 

 but the sand has been blown with such force and so long against this glass as to 

 make it perfectly ground. I know of some windows through which you cannot see 

 an object, except to remind you of that passage where men were seen ' as trees 

 walking.' " 



"The mode of culture is very simple. The grass is pulled up by hand and 

 placed in a hole about a foot deep, the sand is then pressed down upon it. These holes 

 are dug about one foot and a half apart. The spring is the usual time of planting, 

 though many do this work in the fall or winter. The roots of the grass, from which 

 it soon covers the ground, are very long ; I have noticed them ten feet, and I suppose 

 upon high hills they extend down into wet sand. 



"Congress appropriated, between the years 1826 and 1839, about $28,000, which 

 were expended in setting out Beach grass near the village of Provincetown, for the 

 protection of the harbour. From the seed of that grass it is estimated that nearly as 

 much ground more has become planted with it, as was covered by the national 

 government. In 1854 five thousand dollars were wisely expended by the general 

 government in adding to the work; and the experience of former years was of great 

 value to the efficiency of this latter effort." 



The Beach grass and Sand Lyme grass are harsh coarse grasses with tough pale 

 grayish leaves and spread by long underground root stocks. The leaves are tipped 

 with a sharp hard spike which is capable of piercing the skin. The chief difference 

 between these two grasses is a botanical one, viz., in the arrangement of the flowers ; 

 for practical purposes they are so much alike that, if the true Beach grass cannot be 

 obtained, the Sand Lyme grass may be used, but it has not apparently power to 

 spread quite as rapidly. 



